This invention relates to a guide for use in replacement of earrings in pierced ears, and to the method by which said guide is used.
Ears are commonly pierced for earrings by driving the pointed stud of an earring through the ear lobe. However, the earring must then be left in place for a considerable length of time to allow the opening thus formed to heal into a permanent passageway. Otherwise, once the stud is removed, the tissue which surrounds it closes back into the opening making it quite difficult to relocate the opening when the earring is reinstalled. When this happens often the tissue surrounding the opening is damaged by the earring as it is reinstalled, or, in some instances, an entirely new opening must be formed in order to reinsert the stud. In either event there is an increased chance of infection developing, and in the latter case the opening may become seriously skewed since the user generally does not have a piercing tool which inserts the earring into the ear in the correct orientation.
However, it is often desirable, if not necessary, to remove the original earring before the opening has fully healed into a permanent passageway. Beside the normal desire of the user to replace the rather plain earrings used for piercing with aesthetically more pleasing ones, even when the original earrings are not disturbed, there is a good possibility that infection may set in in spite of anti-infective measures being taken. When this happens, while removal and replacement of the earring becomes necessary, it is counterproductive due to the likelihood of the above-described damage occuring to tissue which may introduce further infection. This is particularly true when the user has a difficult time inserting the stud back into the original unformed opening, since she necessarily touches the stem in the process thereby contaminating it.
Accordingly, many people must abandoned their desire to wear pierced earrings after the initial piercing due to the difficulties associated with forming of the opening.